Braintree town clerk Powers files Open Meeting complaint against town council

Wednesday

Dec 4, 2013 at 12:01 AMDec 4, 2013 at 4:19 AM

Members of the committee on ordinances and rules thought they would meet Dec. 3 to finalize a proposed policy regarding travel expenses of the town clerk and the town council before submitting it to the council for a possible vote, but this didn’t happen.

Bob Aicardi

Members of the committee on ordinances and rules thought they would meet Dec. 3 to finalize a proposed policy regarding travel expenses of the town clerk and the town council before submitting it to the council for a possible vote, but this didn’t happen.

Instead, taking the advice of Town Solicitor Carolyn Murray, both the committee and the council tabled action on the issue before council President Charles Kokoros of District 1 scheduled a special Dec. 9 meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Cahill Auditorium of town hall to discuss the Open Meeting Law complaint Town Clerk Joseph Powers filed earlier in the day with state Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office.

In his complaint, which he stated he was making as an individual and not in his official capacity, Powers challenged the specificity of meeting notices for the Nov. 19 meeting of the committee on ways and means and the Nov. 25 meeting of the committee on ordinances and rules, both of which included “financial audit meeting expenses” as an agenda item.

Neither meeting notice made reference to “any discussion on policy relative to financial audits or travel expenses as was expressly discussed (Nov. 6) by the full town council,” Powers stated.

In his complaint, Powers declared that the council should re-file proper notices and reconvene meetings of the ways and means and ordinances and rules committees, giving “full and specific notice” of the discussion relative to adopting a policy on travel expenses.

“Personally, I feel there has been no violation of the Open Meeting Law,” Kokoros said.

Murray and Powers could not be reached for comment about the upcoming meeting.

In a Dec. 3 email to Kokoros, Murray stated she was taking no position on the merits of the complaint but explained why she was urging postponement of action by the ordinances and rules committee and the council.

“If the committee discusses a policy on meeting expenses tonight and offers a recommendation to the full council to adopt a policy of meeting expenses, both bodies, now that they are aware of the Open Meeting Law complaint on this issue, may risk committing an intentional violation of the Open Meeting Law if they take further action on the matter,” stated Murray, who noted that such a violation can result in financial penalties imposed by the attorney general’s office.

Murray suggested that the committee and the council defer the issue until a later meeting for which the notice and the agenda will indicate that the discussion will include consideration of adopting a policy about expenses.

Murray also advised Kokoros to include a discussion of the Open Meeting Law complaint on the agenda for the upcoming meeting so that the council can talk about responding to the complaint, pointing out that the council is required, within 14 business days of receiving it, to send a copy to the attorney general’s office and advise it of any remedial action taken.

In this case, this must be done by Dec. 20.

“According to the council’s meeting schedule, the council will not meet again until Dec. 17, which would only leave three days to discuss the complaint and remedy,” Murray stated. “Therefore, it would be prudent to schedule a special meeting of the council before Dec. 17 to allow adequate time to respond. I will be happy to attend a council meeting to participate in the discussion of this complaint.”

Councilor-at-large Leland Dingee, who is retiring at the end of the month and believes that the council needs to have a more structured oversight system in place, brought forward a proposed policy specifying that travel for town-related business must be preapproved during the budget process.

For each conference or meeting attended, according to Dingee’s suggestion, a form requesting approval should be submitted, including the conference date, a description of the conference, an agenda or course description, the number of days attended, relativity to job function, the expected value to the council member or employee, the expected value to the town, the number of days out of the office and estimated costs broken down by lodging, travel and conference/meeting expenses.

If the council approved the budget, the form would be signed by the council president, who would also sign all requests for payment submitted to the town accountant.

The proposed policy specifies that at the conclusion of the conference or meeting, the attendee would give a brief summary of what was accomplished during it to the clerk of the council, who would then distribute it to all council members at their next meeting.

Unanticipated requests not approved during the budget process would have to be preapproved by the council at one of its meetings.

In a Nov. 7 report Town Auditor Eric Kinsherf submitted after conducting a review of travel expenses in fiscal 2012, fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2014 to date, he found there was no preapproval process for conference, lodging and travel expenses, some payment requests for submitted travel expenses didn’t have the council president’s signature and invoices about conferences did not include agenda or course information, the number of days attended and the expected value to the town.

Kinsherf recommended having travel-related costs be approved by the ways and means committee in advance through a line item during the budget process.

Powers, who served as the elected town clerk from 2000 to 2003 under Braintree’s previous selectmen/Town Meeting form of government, has prepared a binder containing an estimated 200 pages of letters, certifications and other documents in response to Kinsherf’s audit of his office’s meeting and travel expenses.

Powers also served as school committee chairman and town moderator and was on the last board of selectmen prior to Braintree’s adoption of the mayor/council form of government before being hired by the council as town clerk in September 2009 and reappointed in July 2012.

The clerk’s responsibilities are to serve as the keeper of vital statistics for the town and the custodian of the town seal, administer the oath of office to all elected or appointed officials, issue licenses and permits and supervise all elections and election-related matters.